A chance to share the joys and pain – mostly pain – of supporting Leyton Orient

08 February 2011

Leyton Orient 3 Swindon Town 0, 8/2/11

A game in which... Orient were coasting so much it was almost as if they were simply circumnavigating Cornwall, albeit with less danger of being attacked by a scrumpy-fuelled local married to his own sister. Make no mistake, this is a team in formidable form. Over the last few seasons Orient have frequently managed to raise their game against the better sides, only to come undone against the division's lesser lights. Not any more: this was an efficient dismantling of a lacklustre opposition that was done and dusted after just 30 minutes.

Moment to savour... Scotty McGleish's legs have done their fare share of chasing hopeful balls punted upfield by clumping defenders over the years (well, he did play for Barnet), but tonight there was still enough life in them to scamper to the byline in the second half and execute a deft back heel to Dean Cox.

Head in hands moment... Big Russ electing to pass on a set of detailed instructions to Jonathan Tehoue ("Stop falling over") while the ball was still in play, then bollocking the striker for not closing down the defender.

King for a day... Hard to single out one individual in a fine team performance, but let's take this opportunity to sing the praises of another fautless display by Jamie Jones. It's not often that Orient have had a keeper worthy of a song (though Lil Wayne's Drop The World may have been an appropriate soundtrack to the handling ability of Mervyn Day) but the Scouser got a little ditty out of the South Stand tonight and continues to impress.

Boo boy... No one on the pitch, that's for sure, but - in a departure from the normal conventions of fan behaviour - the South Stand began abusing us supporters in the West Stand just because we're taking part in a season-long sponsored silence for charity. Anyway, we're saving our voices for the Arsenal game, when we're fully planning to shout a couple of words of encouragement when the team takes to the pitch, and cheer a bit if we score.

In the dug out... Big Russ started with what he seems to regard as his strongest starting 11 and, once again, got it spot on. It's also great to see that, unlike many previous seasons, we've got real options on the bench, along with Ryan Jarvis too.

What would Martin Ling have done? Claimed that the result proved that he and his team aren't distracted by the forthcoming FA Cup tie with Arsenal. "I'm arshavin none of this talk of distraction," he'd say. "Persie-nally speaking, I think it's just a tired old clichy."

Going down? Absolutely not. Although we have to accept that Swindon showed about as much inspiration as a casting director claiming, "I know just the man for this action role: Jason Statham", this was the performance of an Os team who are looking up the table, not down.

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A disclaimer

The opinions on this Leyton Orient blog are generally based on no actual research. When I write stuff I frequently distort the truth, exaggerate and contradict myself, mostly in an effort to construct tenuous metaphors or to make cheap gags about the players. Sorry about all that.